A MUM was paid nearly £13,000 in benefits after she failed to tell officials she had capital of £55,000 in an undeclared bank account.

Andrea Ramsell-Jones, 39, failed to disclose the money which she said she received as part of her divorce settlement.

She said she did not regard the money as her own and had put it aside for her children’s future.

At Flintshire Magistrates Court, Mold, Ramsell-Jones, of Heol Famau, Mold, admitted that in July 2008 she had made a false statement to obtain benefit. Sentence was adjourned.

Bryony Tomlinson, prosecuting for Flintshire County Council, said Ramsell-Jones had been overpaid £12,005 in housing benefit and £987 in council tax benefit. But the money had since been repaid in full.

The court heard how she claimed benefits on the basis she was a lone parents of two dependent children and her only income was from her employment at Sainsbury’s, child benefit and tax credit.

Huw Roberts, defending, stressed the offence Ramsell-Jones had admitted was not one of dishonesty but one of knowingly committing the offence.

All the money had been repaid, he said.

It was accepted the claim was fraudulent from the start. But she was a woman of good character who had pleaded guilty immediately.